THE US had discovered a “credible terrorist threat” in the form of “two suspicious packages bound for the United States – specifically, two places of Jewish worship in Chicago,” US president Barack Obama said last night.
The packages were located in Dubai and at the East Midlands airport, 260km north of London.
“An initial examination of those packages has determined that they do apparently contain explosive material,” Mr Obama said.
The president said he was alerted to the threat by his counter-terrorism advisor John Brennan on Thursday night.
“I directed the Department of Homeland Security and all our law enforcement and intelligence agencies to take whatever steps are necessary to protect our citizens from this type of attack.”
In what the Transport Security Authority called “an abundance of precaution,” aircraft belonging to United Parcel Service were searched in Newark and Philadelphia.
“I’ve also directed that we spare no effort in investigating the origins of these suspicious packages and their connection to any additional terrorist plotting,” Mr Obama said.
“We know that the packages originated in Yemen.
“We also know that al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, a terrorist group based in Yemen, continues to plan attacks against our homeland, our citizens, and our friends and allies.”
On Christmas Day, 2009, AQAP dispatched Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian student, to carry out a suicide bombing against a US airline en route for Detroit.
The attack failed because another passenger saw Abdulmutallab attempting to detonate a bomb concealed in his underwear and assaulted him.
Mr Obama said that Mr Brennan had spoken to the president of Yemen, who “pledged the full co-operation of the Yemeni government in this investigation”.
The president said the discovery of the packages “underscores the necessity of remaining vigilant against terrorism” and promised to keep the American public fully informed.
“The American people should know that the counter-terrorism professionals are taking this threat very seriously and are taking all necessary and prudent steps to ensure our security.
“And the American people should be confident that we will not waver in our resolve to defeat al-Qaeda and its affiliates and to root out violent extremism in all its forms.”
The White House said last night that Saudi Arabia helped identify the security threat.
There was speculation that the packages were a “trial run” to airport screening measures.
One suspicious package was found on a United Parcel Service (UPS) cargo aircraft at East Midlands airport, 260km north of London.
Another was discovered at a FedEx facility in Dubai.
A spokesman for FedEx said it had embargoed all shipments from Yemen as a precaution, adding that the suspicious package was never loaded onto a FedEx flight.
British police acknowledged that an item found on a UPS plane was being tested.
British and US media gave contradictory accounts, with CNN reporting that it was an ink cartridge converted into a bomb, while Reuters said it contained no explosives.
The BBC and Sky News said it was not a bomb, but was nonetheless “potentially sinister”.